GTP Cool Wall: 2012 Volvo S60 Polestar

2012 Volvo S60 Polestar

  • Total voters
    92
  • Poll closed .
After freight, taxes and other cost that car will be over a half mil. It's a cool car but I don't know if the price will justify the car.
 
Kent
Seriously uncool.
400k for that makes the LFA at 300k look like a bargain.
Sorry but there's no way you can drive a S60 with only 500hp and say it's worth buying when it costs 400k. For that kind of money I think I'd buy a slightly used M5 and an LFA. 👍 (or a ton of other stuff :lol: )
Click to expand...

LFA had a base price of $375k, not much of a bargain compared to this.
 
Adamgp
LFA had a base price of $375k, not much of a bargain compared to this.
Click to expand...

Even at 375k I'd say it's a bargain compared to a 400k S60.
Opinions differ, no biggie.
 
I'm not a fan of Volvo, but I'd rock the hell out of this thing in a heartbeat ..... if it did not (supossedly) cost 400K.

That part just shoots it down hard into the lower end of cool.
 
For the supercar lover that already has everything. I'd be surprised if Jay Leno didn't have one. Very, very cool.
 
TheBook
For the supercar lover that already has everything. I'd be surprised if Jay Leno didn't have one. Very, very cool.
Click to expand...
It's not his, but he did drive it.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/cars/volvo/volvo-polestar-s60-concept/index.shtml

Gives a pretty good insight as to how much work went into it such as the wider body & carbon fiber fenders.

BTW, the information in the original post is incredibly incorrect. The concept cost around $250,000 to make & taking account into all the work they did, it's not a far-fetched price. For the actual production models, they start around $55,000. There is no 500+ Hp or 6-speed, but it still comes with 350Hp from the bigger turbo, intercooler, exhaust & tune. The suspension also retains new shocks, bushings, toe arms, etc. The stock transmission has been revised, but is still the biggest downfall. It's also not limited to 10, but 100 examples.

Full review here giving it a lot of praise.
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/1305_2014_volvo_s60_polestar_first_drive/
 
I got my information from the nomination post (which said the car cost 400 grand to build, converted into USD), and its accompanying Top Gear article. The post is about the 10-unit concept version with the 6-speed and 500 HP engine.
 
White & Nerdy
I got my information from the nomination post (which said the car cost 400 grand to build, converted into USD), and its accompanying Top Gear article. The post is about the 10-unit concept version with the 6-speed and 500 HP engine.
Click to expand...
Then we're voting on a car that doesn't exist (again).

The concept was a one-off. That cost £250k to build as a one-off, in 2012.

The 2013 10-car production version didn't, though no price was ever announced. It was the same as the concept - but since it never actually saw light of day it doesn't matter.

The 2013 100-car production version, with 350hp, didn't cost £250k either, but again since that's never seen light of day either to my knowledge, it doesn't matter.


So either the car is the one-off, 500hp 2012 Concept (concept = seriously uncool), the nonexistent, 500hp 2013 ten-off (nonexistent = seriously uncool) or the nonexistent (that I'm aware of) 350hp 2013 limited run car. But the car in post 1 isn't real, because the information is a mish-mash of all of those things...
 
McLaren
Not going to really comment on the price or factor that in since this wasn't something Volvo ever intended to actually market to the public & merely made 10 for whatever nutty butters who more than likely already had the cars in hand before it gained fame. I give it a cool, though, because it's just unexpected performance out of a Volvo & this thing is right on the verge of a terrific sleeper-ish vehicle. It would be Sub-Zero if it ever actually made it to the showroom floors, though.
Click to expand...

Exactly right, not sure why most people seem to not be getting this. If it was intended for any significant production run, no doubt concessions would be made and it wouldn't cost anything like this much. It's more of an experiment, but made available to the public in very limited numbers. Solid cool from me.
 
McLaren
@Famine, the 100 example is slated as a 2014 model, so that maybe why it doesn't exist yet.
Click to expand...
Originally it was a 2013 car with deliveries starting in June. Safe to say they didn't make it :lol:
 
An S60 T6 with the Polestar upgrade (330 hp) is a sweet ride. About two-tenths quicker than a stock T6, though that doesn't really mean all that much in daily driving. Having driven it, I was suitably impressed by how it combines luxury, pace and agility into one fairly attractive package for less money than the comparable Germans.

But the Polestar S60 isn't in production, yet... it's just a concept. Ergo... don't know, can't vote.
 
A Volvo with over 500hp. Would only be a plain blue Volvo to the untrained eye = Sub-Zero.

Until you park it in a pub car park and someone asks 'who owns the 400 grand Volvo outside?' = Uncool.

Therefore. Cool.
 
Volvo haven't produced anything interesting since the flawed 850 T5. A £250k Volvo that's not as quick as a £80k BMW/Merc/Audi doesn't make it anymore cooler. So uncool.
 
It's a Volvo with a power output that the chassis won't be able to cope with.

Volvo have little (if any) history of producing decent performance cars, so there's no reason to think this is anything other than a marketing/publicity stunt.

Seriously uncool.
 
Still cool :D Not as fast maybe but still a performance car that isn't German and therefore lacks the associated baggage.

Also "because hot wagon".
 
It is everything you wouldn't expect from a Volvo. That alone is cool. But apart from that blue paint it looks normal and because it's a Volvo it doesn't have the same status as a Mercedes or a BMW, so that brings it down a bit for me. Also there is only going to be 10! 10! That is rarer than an Aston Martin One-77, or a McLaren F1 or even a Ferrari 250 GTO for crying out loud. But it doesn't have any of the mentioned badges. And if anyone else has noticed this but Polestar Volvo's almost sound too good to be true and with a too big of catch. The C30 Polestar was a 400bhp hatchback, but never even made production and now there is another Polestar Volvo and there will only be 10 in existance. Not only that but it's $400k. Here it's 2 times the price of an AMG or an M powered Merc or Beemer, and it's the same price as an Aston Martin. What would you rather?

All the greatness of this car has unfortunately been balanced with all the things that bring the catch with that greatness. I'm sorry but it's a meh for me.
 
Famine
Indeed - just about every figure in the opening post is tripe.

Like the Ferrari/Dino semantics last week, this car's actually built by Polestar Racing - not Volvo. Originally there were planned to be 10 cars for Sweden only, identical to the Concept. Then there were 100 cars for Australia. Then the production cars were detuned to 350hp/370lbft - and as far as I'm aware, nothing has been delivered yet despite supposedly hitting the streets in June.

The car in the first post is the Concept - which cost £250k to build as a one-off. If that's what we're voting on, all concepts are seriously uncool. If we're voting on the production car (which would be 2013 if any have been delivered), the opening post needs an overhaul.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that Tuner cars were not allowed under the cool wall?
 
I made it sub-zero but reflecting on it I agree with @McLaren what irks me the most is that Volvo never put it to the showroom only made a handful or prototypes and then had Polestar do the C30 and give that to the public and then they announce the S60 and V60 Polestar but with much less power. A car that could have easily challenged and taken down the cars it was being compared to in the 500+ hp trim but never to be and only sold off to deep pockets. I already gave it it highest due to the engineering factor of it all, but the politics would have easily dropped it to a cool
 
Badasp5.0
I was under the impression that Tuner cars were not allowed under the cool wall?
Click to expand...

Polestar options, at least here, are available straight from the dealership, bundled with the car.
 
I'm confused why anyone would vote subzero/cool for this car.

To those actually old enough to drive/buy their own car and have voted Sub-zero/Cool for this car...

Would you actually go out and spend £45k (c.$70k) of your own money on a 'performance' Volvo?

The V60 is a decent enough car, but why would having a Polestar badge on it give it any credibility? They are, at best, a mid-field WTCC outfit as far as I can tell, and have no credibility in road cars like MSport or AMG.
 
Stotty
To those actually old enough to drive/buy their own car and have voted Sub-zero/Cool for this car...

Would you actually go out and spend £45k (c.$70k) of your own money on a 'performance' Volvo?
Click to expand...
Probably, yeah. If I wanted a fast saloon/estate it'd be pretty high up my list. Aside from badge snobbery there's little real reason to choose anything it competes against above it (subjectively, anyway).

Saying it doesn't have the credibility of AMG or MSport is too black and white. The modern M-stuff is all well and good performance-wise but its sense of occasion has diminished somewhat these days with reams of M-kitted 318is, X5s and others on the road - and engine aside they're little different mechanically from any other BMW these days either.

I've driven a few recent AMGs too. Ballistic, and they sound pretty good. Few nice details here and there too, particularly in the cabin. But again, they feel little more intrinsically special than the regular cars they're based on. I'm really quite a fan of modern Mercs but they don't really make me feel warm inside.

You might say, "you could say that of Volvo too", except I wouldn't. The current Volvo range is jolly nice as it is, to the point I'd have a V40 over a 1-Series/A-Class/A3 and a V60 over a 5-Series/E-Class/A6 estate - and that'd continue with the Polestar. The cabins are nicer in the Volvos (and ludicrously comfortable even by the standards of the class) and I prefer the non-Premiership Footballer/drug dealery image of the Lolvo too.

There's always the "but the Merc/BMW would offer the more interactive driving feel" or something along those lines, but if I wanted that then I wouldn't be buying a big comfy saloon anyway. The Polestar is more or less exactly what I'd want from such a car.

All of which is sort of irrelevant anyway - since I voted cool on whether I find the car cool or not, and not on how good a car it is or whether it has some largely irrelevant performance deficit to the Germans. It's a fast, attractive saloon/estate that colour aside, doesn't need to shout about its abilities. And it's from Sweden, which is automatically cooler than it being from Germany.
 
Last edited:

Latest Posts

Back